Imagine people sitting at a table in your local Chick-fil-a or Burger King truly enjoying the their food. Ideally, it’s healthy right? Doesn’t the menu show how many calories are in each item on the menu and offer “healthier” options such as diet coke or salad? Do people honestly take that into consideration? People believe the ideals and images these companies give their food or they choose to ignore them altogether.
These images and ideals are similar to those shown to the slaves in Plato’s Allegory of the Cave. In Plato’s Allegory of the Cave, Plato attempts to describe the mindset of the masses and how it would be if they were to uncover the truth. The slaves(the masses) believe that the images are true to life. They did not challenge or think anything different from what they were shown or told, and that applies to the fast food customers of today.
In the film, Super Size Me, director Morgan Spurlock embarks on a 30-day journey of eating only McDonald’s menu items as his sole source of nourishment. Over this time period, he gains more baggage than weight. He becomes challenged with occasional vomiting, psychological health problems, and physical health problems ranging from headaches to heart palpitations. But why even do this? While Morgan did shed light on the controversial tactics used in the creation and disbursement of fast foods, he is only one of the trillions of slaves that should challenge or release themselves from the bonadge of fast food. But to me, the challenge not only lies in the consumer, but the employee too.
I work at Chick-Fil-a, and its seems absurd for me to agree with anything that goes completely left of the status quo of my workplace, but how can I not? I go to work with intention. The intention of selling food that is unhealthy, making the drive-thru move as fast as possible to get food to the people faster, but also recommend more than what was asked for. I mean I literally sell the food that can lead to high blood pressure, heart failure, even massive weight gain.
The text and the film challenged me more significantly because I embark on both paths. How can I choose a healthy lifestyle for myself when I sell unhealthy food? How can I choose to say no to unhealthy food when I eat it myself? While I can not change my lifestyle in the flip of a burger, I can acknowledge it.
I like the way you challenge yourself with tough questions toward the end. Many do not consider the consequences of their work. Consider everything from the crooks on Wall Street to a retail worker whose items were made in a sweatshop. We must all reconsider what our work means to us and the consequences it may have.
ReplyDeleteI feel the use of the word "slave" lacks of context or sense. Reality is we are "slaves" of consumerism, but not of fast food per se. We are not being forced to consume fast food, we have the choice of not to, as Spurlock urges us to do so. The dangers of consuming fast food are well known, we simply choose to ignore it, ultimately we all die, does not matter if we are vegans or consume only fast food. some people acknowledge the harms of fast food but opt for the tastiness of it.
ReplyDeleteThe real question is how do you live?